this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026
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I've seen many debates about the need to dry PLA filaments. Looks like some people never need to do anything while others dry the hell out of them before printing.

I've been recommended once to print at 10% RH… After 48h of drying, I can barely get below 37%…

So: what's the humidity level in the room your printer is?

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[–] marcos@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The humidity here varies between 3% and 100%.

Things change from PLA being regenerated by being left open to it not lasting for two weeks before it needs drying.

Unless you live somewhere where it's always close to that low in my interval, I do strongly recommend a drybox to anybody wondering if they need one. At 60% humidity, PLA already visibly degrades way faster than you will use in a hobby.

Also, in my experience, filament driers only help with close to dry filaments. The temperature you would need to really dry them is larger than the glass point of most plastics. Microwaves work better (I guess because they heat the water in an uneven way) but it's still hard to regenerate very moist filaments.

[–] Timpostma@mastodon.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@marcos @matlag according to my sources actually you can use PCTG & ASA which are less resistant to moisture in terms of #3dprinting thermoplastic filament I recommend PCTG because it’s in the same family as PETG yet x20 durable

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (3 children)

less resistant

You mean "less vulnerable" here?

I don't think we can move most people out of PLA. It's cheap and available everywhere. But I do agree it's worth pointing that some plastics do not have this problem.

[–] Timpostma@mastodon.world 1 points 6 days ago

@marcos i do not think #vulnerable is the right world to description for thermoplastic #3dprinting filament each has its upper and lower (hands)

[–] Timpostma@mastodon.world 1 points 6 days ago

@marcos actually the Resin codes are the most popular because of mass production

[–] Timpostma@mastodon.world 1 points 1 week ago

@marcos the other way is to have enough dehumidifier capacity